For us to understand gold and the American monetary policy, it is crucial to understand the Federal Reserve. In 1913 when the Federal Reserve was formed, it was granted, as an unregulated, unaccountable, unauditable, non-tax paying, completely private institution, the exclusive monopoly to issue its own "bank" note which would be used as the U.S. currency (can you believe that). Their note was to be backed by (amongst other things) the U.S. gold and silver reserves and payable to them in gold or silver by the American Government! Try THAT at your local bank or any financial institution these days. Take a twenty dollar bill into the bank and ask the teller for $20 worth of silver. I HAVE !!! They laughed at me. How interesting. I would much rather own in my possession silver or gold, REAL money, rather than that green paper that is so frequently printed. Now, a proper audit of the Gold reserve has not been made since the late 1950's during the Eisenhower administration. That means we have absolutely no idea how much gold is actually in there. They do, and I'd be willing to waiger a whole lot of REAL money it doesn't take long for them to count, meaning not much at all, if any gold IS left. It has all been sent overseas to countries in debt, countries we owe, countries who own us ! The bottom line is there is probably ZERO "good-delivery" gold (.995) in Fort Knox. Just as with other issues in this day, U.S. Treasury could completely embarrass us critics any day of the week by throwing the doors open to the press and showing mountains of good-delivery gold being assayed. An annual physical audit of U.S. gold reserves is required by law. However, the last time one was done was 1957. Gold and silver were such a powerful money during the founding of the United states of America, that the founding fathers declared that only gold or silver coins can be "money" in America. Since gold and silver coinage were heavy and inconvenient for a lot of transactions, they were stored in banks and a claim check was issued as a money substitute. People traded their coupons as money, or "currency." Currency is not money, but a moneysubstitute. Redeemable currency must promise to pay a dollar equivalent in gold or silver money. Federal Reserve Notes make no such promises, and are not "money." A Federal Reserve Note is a debt obligation of the federal United States government, not "money". The federal U.S. government and the U.S. Congress were not and have never been authorized by the Constitution for the united states of America to issue currency of any kind, but only lawful money, gold and silver coin. Federal Reserve Notes are unsigned checks written on a closed account. FRNs are an inflatable paper system designed to create debt through inflation (devaluation of currency). When ever there is an increase of the supply of a money substitute in the economy without a corresponding increase in the gold and silver backing, inflation occurs. It is time we as Americans wake up, smell the coffee, light the home fires, and become educated on what has and is really going on in this country, and around the globe. This is not a message of "gloom and doom", but simply one American trying to reach others. God bless you God bless the U.S.A.